Sunday is the Super Bowl! As we do every year now, we took the temperature with the friend Remi Reverchonwho will be in charge of the exceptional day to be held on beIN Sports, including an enticing ASVEL-Monaco at 6 p.m., before the traditional Sunday Night Live around the Atlanta-Boston match, then the Superbowl between the Los Angeles Rams and the Bengals from Cincinnati.

If there is one Sunday in the year when you have to strap yourself into the sofa and enjoy the show, this is it.

BasketballSession: Rémi, the last time we talked about, ton book “Road Trip NBA” was about to come out. Considering the excellent feedback on the book and the people who came to see you during the promo, I have the impression that the experience was quite good!
Rémi Reverchon: The book was a hit and it’s an adventure I didn’t expect. I’m super happy it worked out like that. Well, it was a bit exhausting because I toured France (laughs), but I was well received everywhere. I thought it would last until Christmas and it would be over, but the clubs would keep asking me to come over. I did Chalon and Antibes, it was hot, I’m going to Dijon in March… It’s an incredible experience.

These moments in French theaters also coincided with the arrival of Betclic Elite on beIN Sports. Before the NBA-NFL sequence on Sunday, you broadcast a poster that is not bad at all, if I’m not mistaken.
Rémi Reverchon: Yes, there will be a huge ASVEL-Monaco commented by David Benarousse and Chris Singleton. then we move on to an SNL with Atlanta-Boston, and around 11:15 p.m. we start the presentation of the Superbowl, we will be there until about 5 a.m. Frankly, I’m delighted to see the French basket on beIN. For the moment it’s a kind of trial run with the league until the end of the season, but I really hope that we will continue. I’m a basketball fan in general, I played in France, commented on the Euroleague with Jacques Monclar… Even if we have this US basketball channel label, I want us to be the basketball channel short, not just the NBA.

Having the Betclic Elite allows us to go towards that. When we acquired the matches, I was told: ‘Who will comment on the French basket at home?’ In the lot, we still have Chris Singleton who coached for a very long time in France, Audrey Sauret who played at a very high level, Eric Micoud who was one of the best French players in our championship, Jacques Monclar I n don’t even talk about it… We still have a team of people who know a little about French baskets (laughs).

Rémi Reverchon tells us about his baby, the excellent “NBA Road Trip”

What would you say to someone who is exclusively suited to the NBA to tell them they MUST watch ASVEL-Monaco on Sunday?
I would tell him that he will have the chance to see a duel between the two biggest teams, on paper, that the title of France has ever known in its history. And in terms of budget, it explodes everything we have known, with two teams a bit below 15 million euros a year, which is surreal compared to what we have known. These are two armadas that really manage to exist in the Euroleague this year. One which is represented by the head of the French basket that is Tony Parker, the other which is a project with incredible players, a mixture of very good French players and leaders of an incredible level, as can being Mike James or Donatas Motiejunas. We are lucky to have two armadas like that which pulls the basket up.

Overall, the French championship benefits from being more followed.
The timing to be interested in it is perfect, you are coming out of an Olympic year where France was wonderful with a silver medal, two locomotives with names… The bet we are making is to interest people who follow the NBA in French basketball. By choosing to put a French poster just before the Sunday night NBA one, I’m convinced that we can make people who follow the NBA, who will arrive on the channel a little earlier, watch an ASVEL -Monaco, take a look, and realize what a different but cool basket it is to follow. By trying to trickle – it’s the fashionable political term – NBA fans into the LFB, I’m convinced that there is something to be done.

If it has to be re-signed, I would like us to be able to broadcast a second poster per day. For the French basket, you have to go step by step. In terms of TV broadcasting, it has been very complicated in recent years. I think the opportunity for the French basket and beIN to work together must be taken intelligently and gradually.

To have these monsters, these kinds of All-Stars between Dre, Snoop, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar, is gigantic. Even though I didn’t give a damn about the Super Bowl, I was just staying up for the concert!

You who spent time in Los Angeles, what does it inspire you to see the Rams at the Superbowl? When you were there, do you think people had the US football fiber or not?
What will have to be understood, in addition to this Superbowl, is that the Rams do not have a fanbase committed to their cause in Los Angeles. Historically they have been in Los Angeles, but they played for 20 years in St Louis and only came back a few years ago. Just look at the conference final between the Rams and the 49ers, which was already being played in LA The stadium was 80% behind San Francisco. Los Angeles is a sports city, with NFL freaks. When I was there, on Sundays in the sports bars, everyone was looking at the poster, but there was no Rams fanbase. Maybe the Super Bowl will change that, with bandwagonners suddenly supporting the Rams, but that’s not happening right now.

Seeing the Rams at the Superbowl isn’t a huge surprise, but what about the Bengals and their phenom Joe Burrows?
It’s a complete surprise. I don’t have the odds from the start of the season in Vegas, but even for the Americans it’s amazing, no one sees the Bengals getting that far. They’re a super young team and that’s what’s exciting about them. Joe Burrows is a raw talent, but I don’t know if he’s a Pat Mahomes or a Tom Brady either. I’m not sure of it. Around him, the team is talented, that’s for sure. There’s their super strong rookie, Ja’Marr Chase, who’s been amazing all year. This Bengals team has its youth on its side, even at the coaching level. We end up with a duel between the two youngest coaches in the history of the Superbowl. I’m going to be 37 this year and it pisses me off to say that at the Superbowl, there will be the coach of the Bengals who will be 38, facing the Rams who is 36. The guy is younger than me and will coach the Superbowl (laughs).

“Tom Brady didn’t want a Kobe-style Last Dance”

Burrows is incredibly precocious. The guy won the Heisman Trophy, was an NCAA champion and ended up in the Superbowl. Not sure we’ve seen that before in the NBA…
Good remark. There, like that, I don’t see either. The thing is, precocity at this point is rare in the NBA. Here I look at the players who went to the All-Star Game in their rookie year. There are not a lot. The latest is Blake Griffin. Before him, there had been Yao Ming. So it can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Burrows isn’t a rookie, but he won his first three playoff games. An NBA equivalent of a player using it in his 2nd season is hard to find.

We can’t help but talk about the halftime concert. There has rarely been such hype around this show, which is very popular every year…
A Superbowl is always interesting, but this year there is really an event within the event with the halftime concert. If you are a little interested in US culture but not too much in football, this is the best way to go the distance. To have these monsters, these species of All-Stars who will return, between Dre, Snoop, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar, is gigantic. Me who loves this culture to death, even if I didn’t give a damn about the Superbowl, I think I’d stay up just for the concert!

For the little stories around the Superbowl that make a basketball connection, there’s that of Cooper Kupp, the Rams wide receiver, who was a very good basketball player in high school and who blocked Zach LaVine at the time in a game. playoffs.
I hadn’t heard of this story with LaVine, I find it funny but it’s not surprising. In high school, Americans do all the sports, at least the somewhat talented athletes. Their season is cut up: at the end of the summer it’s US football, the winter sport is basketball and the spring sport is baseball. So the guys play a bit of everything. Often, those who make it to the pro level are talented in multiple disciplines. There are a thousand examples. You take Klay Thomspon, his brother plays in MLB at the Dodgers, he sent balls like launcher him too when he was younger. Allen Iverson, the same, he had hesitated between US football and the NBA. These guys are good everywhere.

A word on Tom Brady’s retirement?
I was surprised, I thought he would not accept being out of the playoffs and I would like to start another season, but the guys from Team NFL Extra who are involved in it made me understand that mechanically the roster of Buccaneers would undoubtedly be level on the offensive line. What made Tom Brady last so long was that he had a great offensive line. For a history of turnover, retirements, etc… the offensive line of the Buccaneers was going to drop in level. There was a real risk that the season would be more complicated for him. In fact, it was logical that he stopped because he risked making the season too many. He may have an excellent lifestyle, be vegan, pay attention to his body, there is still in the NFL this specificity where the quarterback must absolutely be protected. Brady didn’t want to do a Kobe-style Last Dance tour, in farewell mode. He wanted to go to the top. It’s not that far off in the end.

Sunday’s program on beIN Sports

Rémi Reverchon: “Brady vs Mahomes, it could have been MJ vs Kobe”